Day 3: Beijing's Glorious Past

At the entrance of the forbidden city
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August 25, 2006

If getting up at 5 am yesterday was not bad enough - I was up at 2 am this morning!  After fixing myself an instant coffee, I set about to writing this blog.  Much of what you have read about Day 1 and 2 was typed in while I was still in my pyjamas!  The one reason (above all) that I love this hotel is that I have 24 hour internet access in my room and that means my laptop is always plugged in and I am always online (no different from home!).

This was my first real view of Communist China. I looked around me and this time I saw it all in a different light.....

Interior of the Empress' living quarters
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An hour later, Missy too was up.  I've given up trying to figure out what time zone we're working on.  We were both absolutely famished when we woke up.  Luckily, I had the foresight to pack some of our delicious lunch into a small styrofoam box and also had picked up a couple of croissants from the breakfast buffet.  Missy muched on the croissants while I wolfed down the kung pao chicken and rice.  Missy then took a picture of me(sans make up!) writing my blog.

Although it was only 8.30 am in the morning, Missy and I had been up for almost six hours already.  Suddenly, it also made a lot of sense to see all that food on the breakfast buffet - the steak, the noodles, the rice and the dim sum all looked very appealing.  Of course, we had none of that.  We were down in the lobby by 8 am to have a quick breakfast and to meet Hawk who came by, right on schedule, at 8.30 am.

One of the many ornate pavillions in the forbidden city
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Our first stop was the Forbidden City.  If you have already seen the film, The Last Emperor, then you know about this place.  This used to be an enclosed area built in the early 14th century that housed the Emperor, his Empress, his many concubines and other domestic staff and militia.  It's an immense complex with very ornate buildings and expansive "living" areas, elaborate pavillions and exquisite rock gardens.  In those days, red and yellow were colours reserved for the royalty.  Any common person wearing red would be punished by death.  The structures are all embellished in various hues of red and gold.  There are many carvings of dragons on the actual buildings as well as on marble plaques across the compund.

The Kiterunner at Tiananmen Square
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We saw about half of the Forbidden City and then, as the buildings all looked remarkably the same, we decided we'd had enough and asked Hawk to take us to our next stop - Tiananmen Square.

On the way to T square, I was struck again by the size of this city.  There are 3-4 lanes for cars on most of the city's major routes.  Hawk tells me that Beijing is the equivalent of 16 Hongkongs!! T square is the largest public square in the world and can hold north of 300,000 people.  It was quite an overwhelming sight to see such a big open space. There must have been thousands of people in the square and yet it looked spacious and empty.  I noticed some stern looking (and very intimidating soldiers) and police patrol cars that patrolled on the square grounds.  That reminded me about the T square massacre from 1989 when student demonstrations were squashed by Chinese officials.  All my information about that event came from the western media and I thought it might be a good idea to get perspective from a Chinese national.  So I asked Hawk about it.

Putting the kite together
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No sooner had I mentioned T square, students, killings and Chinese officials that Hawk brusqely asked me to be quiet and not talk about such things in a public place.  Was that fear that I saw in his eyes or was it just annoyance and anger at a story that was grossly misrepresented in the west.  I won't know because he made it quite clear that China's politics was not something he wished to discuss and debate.

This was my first real view of Communist China.  I looked around me and this time I saw it all in a different light: the square, the guards, the people.  There may be free parks, big squares and public schooling and healthcare.  What was clearly lacking was "freedom of expression".

Memorial for the People's struggle to get a Chinese republic
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I was quickly distracted from this sombre brush with reality by an excited squeal from Missy.  She had just spotted a vendor selling the large, bright, chinese kites.  We bargained with him (Gosh, we're so good at this - it even shocks Hawk!  He does not know what desi roots can contribute ;) ).  The vendor wanted 200 yuan for the kite.  We offered him 20.  He scoffed and looked insulted and hurt.  We prepared to walk away.  He called us back and came down to 160, we went up to 30.  The song and dance routine continued until we both agreed on a price of 50 yuan to include the kite as well as the spool that housed the special kite string.  He looked pained, like we'd robbed him but gave us the kite and spool anyway.  That was about 10 minutes of haggling for a purchase that equals roughly Cdn$7.

The corridors within the Temple of Heaven complex
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Missy got down to assembling her kite and then she even managed to get it up in the air.  It looked amazing and she looked so carefree.  I was lucky to get a few shots on film!  One of my finer memories of China, for sure.

T square is flanked on all sides by large buildings: one building on the west side houses the Chinese History Museum and the Revolution Museum.  On the east side is the Congress building where the Congress meets whenever it's in session.  On the south side is one of the gates to the old Imperial city which now has the photo of Chairman Mao Tse Tung (the leader of China's revolution).  On the north side, flanked by two large sculptures that symolize the people's revolution, is the building that houses the tomb of Chairman Mao.  Outside the tomb, there were incredibly long line ups of people.  Hawk informed me that most people from all over China make this pilgrimage of sorts at least once in their lifetime - when them come to T square and then pay homage to the tomb of China's leader: Chairman Mao.

Hall of Prayer for Good Harvest within the Temple of Heaven
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At the very centre of the square is a large column that was erected to pay respect to the many people that died during the people's revolution.  Similar to the memorials that we have for the unknown soldier - built in many parts of the world.

After all that walking and running around on T square, we were ready for lunch even thought it was only 11.30 am (we'd been up since 2 am, remember?).  We were taken to a really nice restaurant where I ate the bext chicken in black bean sauce ever!

At the Peking Opera
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After lunch, we headed over to the Temple of Heaven - which is actually an elaborate complex containing several buildings and the entire complex is about four times the size of Forbidden City.  There are (or were) actually many temples in Imperialist China: Temple of Heaven, Temple of Earth, Temple of Moon and Temple of Sun (or was it stars?).  Anyway, this one (of heaven) is the most important and perhaps the best preserved structure.

History tells us that the Emperor would visit the Temple of Heaven three times a year: the first days each of spring, summer and winter.  During his visit, many animals would be led down the corridors where they were slaughtered for sacrifice as an offering.  The Emperor would then pray in the Hall of prayer for good harvests.

Blogging at 3 am!
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I could see that Missy was a bit grossed out by this story.  I suppose it's hard to imagine prayers for a good harvest when everything she's ever seen us eat came from a shelf in a Loblaws or a Dominion store!

By 2 pm, we were both knackered.  It had been more than a twelve hour day for us already and we deperately needed to get some sleep.  We had a peking opera show to attend that evening.  We asked Hawk to dispense with further sight seeing for the day and take us back to the hotel.  Once there, Missy wrote in her diary and I updated this blog and then we both crashed!